In the telecommunications industry telephone cable is introduced to individual telephone sites such as residences, mainly through use of a splice of the signal wires of the cable to respective house wires at a junction located outside or inside the house. The junction is housed within a protective enclosure which is mounted usually to an outside wall of the house. One example of an assembly of a splice terminal block and enclosure therefor is sold by Raychem Corporation under the product identification D'TERMINATOR XB2 (trademark of Raychem Corporation), and the product has the capacity to crossconnect one or two separate telephone lines within the enclosure. Ends of the house cable and the drop cable from the transmission line enter the enclosure; each of the pair of signal wires of each cable is prepared to be spliced to its respective counterpart in the other cable; and the prepared wire ends are then placed within a terminal which is manipulated to penetrate the insulation of both wires to engage the conductors and thus interconnect them. Terminal blocks also provide dielectric protective structure around the splice, and together with the enclosure provide protection from the environment, especially from water, dust, and other contaminants and also from insects and animals. Such enclosures must be capable of being reopened to expose the terminal blocks for service and repair as needed.
One type of terminal block for interconnecting a pair of wires is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,077. A tubular dielectric housing has a center post therein defining an annular cavity. A stationary tubular terminal is affixed within the cavity adjacent the center post; a rotatable tubular terminal is disposed within the cavity concentrically around the stationary terminal and in electrical engagement therewith at all times; and a tubular actuator is also mounted to the housing and is adapted to be rotated between actuated and unactuated positions to rotate the rotatable terminal. A pair of wire-receiving apertures extend through apertures through the housing wall, through apertures of both terminals and the actuator, and at least into a center post aperture, all aligned in an unactuated state for a wire end to be inserted thereinto. Upon rotation of the rotatable terminal by the actuator, slot walls of the terminal pierce the wire insulation and engage the wire's conductor. The stationary terminal includes a contact section extending outwardly from the housing including insulation displacement slots for a wire to be inserted thereinto and terminated, for a multiconductor stub cable length to be secured to the enclosure containing a plurality of the terminal blocks, thus defining a cable harness. The two terminal members thus interconnect an appropriate conductor of the stub cable to a wire inserted into the terminal block. A second set of wire-receiving apertures can be utilized to receive a second inserted wire end to be interconnected with the first and with the stub cable conductor.
It would be desired to provide a terminal block which has few components, is easy to assemble, is inexpensive to manufacture, and provides an assured electrical connection between the spliced wires. It would also be desirable to provide such a terminal block which can splice two different wire sizes, such as 18 AWG and also 24 AWG, whichever may be encountered by the service personnel at the site of the junction.